Tesla Betting Big on Bitcoin
Tesla has invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and will soon be accepting cryptocurrency as a valid form of payment. Unsurprisingly, the digital token’s valuation surged as news broke, sending it past its all-time high of $44,000 and making a lot of investors incredibly happy.
CEO Elon Musk has boosted various cryptocurrencies in the past by doing little more than saying their name. For example, Dogecoin was co-founded by IBM and Adobe software engineers as the satirical alternative (hence the name) to other forms of digital currency. But it became the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency after Musk started tweeting about it at the start of February.
As for how you’ll be paying for your next Tesla, details of the Bitcoin exchange haven’t been worked out as of yet. Its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission only stipulates that the company hopes “to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future … initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt.”
Musk himself has suggested government-backed currencies are overhyped and that Bitcoin seems a viable alternative. He has also suggested that the digital coin is on the cusp of being endorsed by “conventional finance people.” This has been echoed other crypto investors, though they have plenty to gain by convincing others to buy in. But Tesla’s filing did not fail to exercise some amount of caution and acknowledged that the “long-term adoption [of cryptocurrencies] by investors, consumers and businesses is unpredictable” and open to digital attacks. We imagine that’s just in there for cover, as there are few forms of investing that are risk-free.
[Image: JL IMAGES/Shutterstock]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Popping in to check on Mr Healey fearlessly taking TTAC further and further into irrelevancy...
Oh Lordy, is this what I have to look forward to? Get older, wake up at 3:30 AM to relieve my bladder, can't go back to sleep, watch some NEWSMAX maybe some RT, drift over to Fox news. Wake up in my Lazy-e-boy with drool on my chin and being deeply afraid of anyone who doesn't look or think like me. Hopefully the bottle blonde with the big hooters will be on Fox news. Maybe Roger Ailes had her and the other bottle blonde with even bigger hooters wrestle as he watched. Eat my oatmeal, drink my prune juice. Now it's after lunch and I've ate enough cilium to start a farm and can't go poop. I know what I'll do! I'll go on a car site and push my wing-nut conspiracy ideas.